Number of Brits moving to France each year expected to double

Serbia agrees $1bn major highway deal

Demand for Polish lofts goes through roof

Over 5m tourists visited Bulgaria in 2006

Regional states to sign railway deal in January

Ukraine plan 7,000km of road improvements by 2012

Land prices booming in surrounding areas of Delhi, India

Number of Brits moving to France each year expected to double

Twice as many UK residents are planning to move to France this year, compared to last year, according to a new French Property Market Report (2006/2007) by VEF. It also predicts that many UK owners of holiday homes elsewhere in Europe and in America will start to sell up and buy in France as fears of aviation fuel surcharges grow.

The report states that ‘the search for a better quality of life, coupled with the fact that more people know of someone who has moved to France and made it work will drive the exodus from our shores.’

VEF founder and managing director Trisha Mason says: “They will be looking for small town settings and easy access to all the facilities that are also demanded by the average French buyer. This will lead to increased competition.”

There is also expected to be a 50% rise this year in the number of UK purchaser’s intending to buy ‘for pure investment’ compared with 2006.

"In 2003, only 3% of buyers were intending to buy for pure investment", Mason said. "We have seen this grow to 8% in 2006 and a record 12% planning to do so in 2007.”

However, fewer buyers are looking to renovate their French properties, the report finds. "The search for bargains is over", said Mason.

Also, overseas property buyers pay more for their property on average, with French purchasers spending €179,423 on average, compared with €207,652 for VEF's UK clients, around 15% higher. This is mainly due to the type of property that each group purchases with most overseas buyers preferring ‘stone, character properties in semi-rural settings in southwest France’ while most the French tend to opt for ‘apartments or new pavilions and villas in and around towns in the north and the east of the country.’

Overall however, the report says the French population is gradually shifting from the north to the south, with a 32% rise in population predicted in Languedoc for example, by 2030.

Serbia agrees $1bn major highway deal

Serbia will sign a 1bn deal with a Spanish-Austrian consortium to construct a major highway through the middle of the country.

The Serbian government said in a statement that talks with Austria's Alpine-Mayreder and Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC) of Spain were completed and a contract will be signed in the near future.

The highway will link Horgoš, on Serbia's border with Hungary, 220km north of Belgrade, with Požega, a southwestern town some 150km south of the capital.

Demand for Polish lofts goes through roof

As the Polish real estate market expands, many cities across the country are about to see a boom in the development and sale of loft apartments. Residential suites in renewed old factories, warehouses and other post-industrial buildings that have been left unused for a long time are being refurbished and sold, reported a local real estate website.

The main advantages of lofts include their central locations and convenient access to all utilities. With a little imagination old, rundown factories are being transformed into unique, luxurious accommodation. At the moment, most loft apartments are being offered only to wealthier Poles or investors from the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany and the US.

Over 5m tourists visited Bulgaria in 2006

The number of foreign tourist visits to Bulgaria in 2006 exceeded five million for the first time, according to deputy head of the State Agency for Tourism (SAT) Stanslav Novakov.

Nearly 5.2m foreigners holidayed in Bulgaria in 2006. Revenue from the foreigners' visits is estimated to be around €2bn

According to information provided by various foreign consulates, the number of Polish visitors increased, as did the number of Russians and Ukrainians. Nearly 70% more Norwegians visited Bulgaria compared to the previous year.

Bulgarian coastal resorts were among the most preferred destinations.

Regional states to sign railway deal in January

Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia are expected to sign an agreement this month to construct a major Gars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railway line to link the three countries, Azerbaijani Prime Minister Artur Rasizada has said.

The railway section between Gars and Akhalkalaki will stretch for 98km, of which 68km will pass through Turkey and the remaining 30km via Georgia. Baku is expected to finance Georgia’s share of the project, initially estimated at $400m.

Rasizada said work was underway to set up a transport link between Azerbaijan and Turkey. The design and preparations for building infrastructure between the two countries will begin in May.

Tbilisi has confirmed readiness to participate in the project as well. Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli said Georgia is ready to sign the contract.

Ukraine plan 7,000km of road improvements by 2012

According to Ukrainian vice Prime Minister Andriy Klyuyev, Ukraine needs to build, reconstruct or repair over 7,000km of roads during the next five years. The cost of these infrastructure improvements is expected to be around €15bn.

Among the government’s top priority for attracting foreign investment is a highway ring-road around Kiev, and an east-west transport corridor

French companies BOUYGUES Travaux Publics and VINCI Construction are expected to be awarded the concession to build both of those major roads.

Land prices booming in surrounding areas of Delhi, India

Haryana in the north of India, to the north and west of Delhi, is witnessing a never before rise in real estate values, with prices of both residential and commercial land going up by 40-50% over the past 12 months, according to Sanjay Verma, joint managing director at Cushman & Wakefield in India.

“Improvements in infrastructure along with suitable employment generation in areas like Sonepat, Kundli and Panipat, are leading to their emergence as ideal destinations for housing and commercial activities”, says Verma.

Those locations in Haryana attracted some of the most frantic purchasing by Indian property developers last year. To aid the construction boom in this region, much investment in the infrastructure is planned, including the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway, which “is one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects undertaken in recent times by any state government”, says Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

There have also been recent announcement by the state government to introduce a Metro Rail service in Kundli, which would need just a few kilometres of extra track to join up with the Delhi Mass Rapid Transit System, which began operation in 2002.